Sejal and Jermaine

How We Met: Our very first date was February 19, 2004. We started our journey as teenagers not knowing much about life or dating, just innocent teens dating and having fun. We had a few classes together our freshman year of high school so we saw each other often. Every day in World History I would ask him “do you hear my stomach growling” but he would just shake his head and nod no.

Jermaine was very quiet unlike me on the other hand who was more talkative so I was determined to find out more about this young gentleman. The conversation went from stomach growls, to yahoo messenger, to meeting at the movies and basketball games, to dating and holding hands. We are a primary example of the “high school sweethearts” story. Almost eleven years later, he got on bended knee and asked me to marry him. Now, I am the Future Mrs. Brownlee.

How He Asked: It was my 25th Birthday Celebration, and we traveled to South Carolina to be closer to home to celebrate with family and friends. My weekend was called, “#SEJebration” and I was definitely looking forward to it. We had dinner reservations in Charlotte, NC at Dressler’s Restaurant for a party of around 40.

Jermaine kept promising me that, even though there were hurdles we had to jump over during the day, by the end of the night it would all be worth it. Of course, I wanted an engagement ring for my birthday, but after being told numerous times that he definitely was not proposing on my birthday I let that idea go. We finally get to dinner and everyone is happy to see us, we are greeted, we stop and talk to family and friends, and then we are seated.

Dinner starts and everyone is eating, chatting, and having a grand time. Jermaine and his close friend Trey get up and prepare the screen for a “special presentation”. Well, I had a special presentation planned myself that Jermaine knew nothing about. I bought him a gift just as a token of my appreciation for him planning my party and being the loving and caring gentleman that he is.

We decided that I would go first; I presented him with a watch and he was surprised, saying, “I did notexpect to get a gift on your birthday”; I just smiled not knowing that the biggest surprise was yet to come! So, we are standing at the front of the room and the presentation starts, it’s a video that he made wishing me Happy Birthday.

In the video he thanked everyone for coming out to celebrate with us, photos and videos were included of me, and he answered specific questions about me as well. He answered, “What does this moment mean to you”, “What is your favorite thing about being able to spend everyday with Sejal”, and “What are you favorite things about Sejal than no one else may know”.

The last video was of me dancing to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” but I was stressing the “Put a Ring on It” part while pointing to my finger. After that video ended, he said, “Turn around”. When I turned around he was on his knee and popped the question! Of course, I said YES!